A FORMER detective has revealed the man he thinks killed two policemen.

Steven Lawson is convinced that Kirkheaton man Alfred Moore was wrongly hanged for shooting two policemen nearly 60 years ago.

Today Mr Lawson has named Huddersfield man Clifford Mead as the real killer.

He has come to the conclusion after studying records of the case for more than a year.

Mr Lawson said: “Taking everything into account, I am convinced that Alfred Moore was not the person who shot Det Insp Duncan Fraser and Pc Arthur Jagger in the early hours of Sunday July 15, 1951.

“I now have reason to believe that another man, Clifford Mead, was the real killer.”

Moore was suspected of being a prolific burglar who targeted mills.

On the night of July 14, 1951, 10 police officers surrounded his farmhouse at Cockley Hill in Kirkheaton, hoping to catch him returning home with his haul.

Two of the officers were shot while trying to arrest a man who was approaching the house.

Det Insp Fraser, 45, died at the scene and Pc Jagger, 42, was rushed to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

Moore was arrested at his farmhouse a few hours later.

As Pc Jagger he lay dying in his hospital bed on July 15 he picked out Moore from a nine-man identity parade.

Moore was found guilty of murder and hanged at Armley Prison in Leeds in 1952.

But Mr Lawson, who has studied more than 200 pages of Moore’s trial records from the National Archives, is convinced the prosecution case was weak, with no forensic evidence and a flawed identification parade.

Mr Lawson, who was a detective in the West Riding force from 1968 to 1974, has a long-standing interest in the case.

He said: “I first connected Clifford Mead to the murders in 1971 while investigating two armed robberies which took place that January in Kirkheaton.

“Later, at a gathering at his home Clifford Mead produced a handgun. Raising it aloft he said to the gathering: ‘This is the gun that killed two coppers at Kirkheaton in 1951’.”

Mr Lawson said Moore and Mr Mead were criminal associates in Kirkheaton in the 1950s.

He added: “In certain circles the two were known to be partners in crime. Alfred Moore was a burglar who entered premises by stealth, while local police suspected Mead of being a receiver of stolen goods.”

Mr Mead was born in Huddersfield in 1920 and met his wife, Joyce, while in the RAF during the Second World War. He lived in Kirkheaton at the time of the police murders and moved to White Cottage in Cooper Bridge in 1958 or 1959.

After separating from his wife he died at Longwood Gate in 1998.

Mr Lawson, 62, has spoken to several people who knew Mr Mead.

He said: “I have been told he was cruel, sadistic and very violent. He had possession of numerous firearms and often threatened to use them.”

Mr Lawson, who lives near the scene of the murders, would like to speak to anyone with information about the case.

He is particularly keen to speak to anyone who knows about an electrician who worked on Moore’s house in the early 50s.

Anyone with information about the case can call Mr Lawson on 07919 00 66 72 or email info.atpolicemurders1951@ntlworld.com